I’ve done quite a bit of Christmas shopping online this year (thank you, Old Navy!) and packages are arriving on my doorstep daily. That means I’ve got a lot of gift wrapping area of me! One of the things that I miss when I order online is being able to grab gift boxes to put clothing in. Around this time of year, most stores have stacks and stacks of gift boxes available for customers to grab. I snagged a few from Beall’s, and a few more from Kohl’s, completely free of course.

Imagine my shock when I was recently inside Old Navy and they told me they CHARGE for their gift boxes! What? I just spent $100 in the store, and you want me to pay $2.50 for a cardboard box that says Old Navy on it? I’m sure such a box costs all of a few pennies. If Old Navy wants to “regulate” who gets a gift box, by all means - do so! Hand them out to customers who purchase from your store, and don’t let people snag a stack of ten. But don’t charge us for them!

Overstock.com is running a huge Christmas promotion, and they’re giving away huge prizes! You can win a prize a day, up to $1000 value, and YOU get to pick the prize! I just picked out diamond studs for myself, but you may find a new laptop or a plasma TV or some furniture…the sky is the limit. Well, actually, $1000 is the limit, but that’s a nice budget to work with!

Did you venture out on Black Friday, or during the Thanksgiving holiday? I did, but I was still sleeping in my bed early on Friday, when some were out trying to grab the best deals. My best deals so far include Guitar Hero III (with 2 guitars) for $89 at Target. I purchased it for $109 earlier in the week, and noticed it was on sale Friday, so I got the difference back after a short wait at guest services.

Another great deal was at Beall’s, which is a department store chain in Florida. All of their clearance merchandise was 50% off the original price, plus another 50% off that. I got my oldest a pair of Roxy shoes for $8, and Roxy t-shirts for $4!

What was your best deal of the weekend?

With a week left until Halloween, I’m actually ahead of the curve for once. I bought the kids their costumes weeks ago, and I even have my Halloween candy already. The only thing remaining to purchase is a pumpkin. Being that we live in Florida, this isn’t something that can be purchased and carved weeks in advance. The heat would literally rot it in days. We won’t get our pumpkins until the weekend. Until then, we’ve got two fake pumpkins in our front yard that look exactly like the real thing.

I’ve got two pirates and the Bride of Frankenstein in this house for trick or treating - what are your kids dressing up as?

I’m not one for fancy collections, crystal, and china dinner plates, but I have several family members who love and and appreciate gifts like that. One in particular has a thing for unique nutcrackers, and she has several in the Seiffner style, as well as a few that resemble Disney characters. I came across this site selling Ulbricht nutcrackers and Steinbach nutcrackers - while they aren’t in the style that I’m used to seeing, I like them quite a bit. The nutcrackers that resemble Santa make it the perfect crossover gift for a Santa Claus collector as well, and we’ve also got one of those in the family.

As for me, I do have a thing for Christmas tree ornaments, and buy a special one each year. I absolutely love these Lalique crystal ornaments. With a different design each year, they make a great heirloom gift!

I know there are a lot of amazingly talented young people out there. My own daughter draws cartoons of a character she created…just for fun! She didn’t get that talent from me, since my own drawings resemble something you’d find in a cave…prehistoric style.

The Gallery Collection, which is a major publisher of Christmas cards for business use, as well as other professional cards, is running a great contest for talented young artists. To enter, you must be an artist in high school or college. You can submit your original artwork, photo, or computer graphic online, and if selected, it will be made into a greeting card available for purchase at the site. In return, the artist will win a $10,000 scholarship! Wouldn’t it be amazing to send our professional Christmas cards with artwork that your child created on it? The contest runs until January 15th, 2008, so budding artists have plenty of time to wait to be struck by inspiration.

I’ll have to check back to see when the winner is announced - I order Christmas cards like this to send to my business contacts, and I’d love to support the winner of the contest by sending that card out to my associates.

I know it’s barely October, but has anyone out there started Christmas (or holiday) shopping yet? My girls will sit down and put together a nice list that includes things like books & new pajamas. My son, on the other hand, will wait until that BIG huge holiday toy catalog arrives from Toys R’ Us. He then sits down and writes down anything that he thinks looks cool. We end up with a list of 15 or so items, like motor scooter, and karaoke machine.

Uhh…no.

My mother likes tea. I think it all started when her Scottish grandmother introduced her to having a “cuppa” after school. She loved it when we visited England and got to enjoy teatime every afternoon! With Mother’s Day coming up, I’ve been trying to brainstorm to come up with a unique gift idea, and I think I may be onto something. FullBloomTea has some really neat Mother’s Day gift sets that are pretty and functional. What’s a tea bloom? I didn’t know either, so I was off to investigate. A tea bloom is a creation packaged in China that will “bloom” into a floral bouquet when you steep the tea in hot water. Once you’re done drinking the tea, you can still enjoy the bloom created by the process for a few more days. These Mother’s Day gift sets include several assorted tea blooms to enjoy, a teapot, and some even include the teacups needed to savor this delicious (and healthy) tea! Isn’t that just about the most original thing you’ve ever seen? If you don’t want to buy it for your mom, there are a ton of other ideas for tea blooms - give a friend a friendship or happiness bloom. Share one with someone special. Surprise a friend - I’d love to see one of these bloom in person!

This is a sponsored review.

I came across this website offering custom labels and stickers - I’m guessing that’s where every school in the freaking country makes those “My child is an honor student at…” stickers. You can make your own at this site though, and just order one. I’m tempted to order one saying, “My child is flunking out of…”

Yes, I’ve got a twisted sense of humor! My kids are honor students, but I don’t need to advertise it on my car…LOL! I’d rather put up something witty that gives people a little sign of how sarcastic I am…LOL!

Love the address labels there too - I could make some featuring the family for this year’s Christmas cards!

I got to Target this morning for my Easter stuff…the only problem? I had my daughter with me. Hard to buy Easter basket goodies with her in tow. So I got a paper gift bag from the card aisle and hid my goodies in that. $100 later..we were done. Yeah, I’m confused about how Easter baskets turned into a $100 shopping trip too!

I bought the girls a movie (Happy Feet & Jump In) and a CD each, and I got Matthew two movies (Crocodile Hunter & Fantastic 4 cartoons). And candy…chocolate bunnies all around!

I’ve got a couple of movies in mind for the kids Easter baskets, but I haven’t had any luck finding them locally in the stores. Why do I wait til the last minute to take care of this things? I think one reason is that the date for Easter changes every year…so it always sneaks up on me. Yeah, that’s the excuse.

All I know is, I’m off to Target tomorrow for one last look, and then I’m done.

I’m back. Didja miss me? Gracie is such a good little shopper. She helped me pick out a few shirts and 2 dresses, and then came with me into the fitting room and held my purse. She complimented me on everything I tried on too. Everyone should have someone like that to take shopping! I didn’t find an Easter dress, but I did find 2 shirts I liked enough to buy, and I’m thinking I’ll wear one of those for Easter with a pair of chocolate brown capri pants I already have.

After we picked out my things, we wandered over to the girls department, and they were having a 70% off clearance, so we got Gracie 3 new shirts for church.

I’ve got to run the kiddos over to church in about 45 minutes, and while they’re occupied with their religious education, I’m planning a trip over to Beall’s to look for an Easter dress for myself. I wanted to use tonight to get the goodies for their Easter baskets, but I’ll have my 9 year old with me, and I can’t exactly buy Easter basket goodies with her in tow. I know exactly what I want for their baskets, it’s just a matter of getting to the store and getting what I need.

Passover and Easter are coming, and all you need to do is look around your grocery store to see the signs. My local Publix not only has displays of Easter basket, candies, plastic eggs, toys, and stuffed animals, but signs offering hams for the holiday, and a huge display of matzo crackers, mix for matzo ball soup, and mixes for potato pancakes. Delish!

Springtime makes me want to get outside and be productive around the house. Last week, we did a lot for our curb appeal by adding decorative curbing, and a ton of pretty new flowers in our newly designed flower beds. I couldn’t help but drool over the outdoor accessories in the home & garden store, but I promised myself that we’d get the planting done FIRST, and then I could accessorize! My mom lives next door, and her house is a bit more dressed up than mine outside, but then again, it’s just her. I have to get my husband to agree to everything I want to do! One of the things she’s got outside are those decorative flags - right now it’s a leprechaun for March. I’m sure next month features the Easter bunny! I found the perfect flag for our house - of course, it’s a weiner dog flag!

What I really want though, is a small garden fountain - the sound of water running through a fountain is just something that relaxes me, and I think one would really look neat in our flower bed out front. I’d love a plant stand or wall mount planters for our lanai too - it’s a little bare and needs some greenery to spruce it up!

Tis the season for baptisms, weddings, confirmation, and communion! (Did you see Desperate Housewives last night? I cracked up at Lynette being told it was Bar Mitzvah season!) If you need a special gift for a religious celebration, specifically, a Christian celebration or rite of passage, you can find a huge assortment of Christian gifts online, and the selection is a lot nicer than what you’ll find at your local church store. As for me, I have a thing for crosses, and I love looking at them. We have a beautiful Fonantini cross hanging in our bedroom.

21 shopping days remain - men, I’m looking at you! Impress the woman in your life (or man!) with gourmet Valentines Day gift baskets from GourmetGiftBaskets.com. You can choose from baskets of chocolates, nuts, wines (Dom Perignon - wowza!), fruits, cheese - you name it, they’ve got it in a basket. Or, create your own personalized gift basket to give your sweet heart a truly unique gift. With 3 weeks left, you’ve got plenty of time to figure out what your valentine would like best, order it, and wait for it to arrive - you’re sure to reap some rewards from a gift like that!

Technorati Tags: gift basket, gourmet gifts, Valentine’s Day, Valentine, February 14

We got a great deal last night on Yankee Candles - at the Cracker Barrel of all places! All of their holiday merchandise was 70% off, including the Yankee Candles in the scents Pumpkin, Christmas Cookie, and Harvest. The big jars were only $6, so I snagged a few for next year. They’ll make great gifts for family or even a quickie hostess gift, or teacher gift. I’m hoping the Cracker Barrel at home still has some when we get back there.

Technorati Tags: Yankee Candles, Yankee Candle, candles, Christmas candles, Christmas shopping, Cracker Barrel, clearance

We hit Target last night and my store still had TONS of Christmas decor, ornaments, wrapping paper and more for 50% off. I was surprised at how much of it was left! The aisles for it were a complete and total wreck, but that’s ok when there are bargains to be found.

If you’ve got a fisherman in the family, some new bright and shiny fishing lures would make an excellent stocking stuffer! (Just make sure it’s carefully wrapped or in a box - we wouldn’t want anyone reaching into their stocking and coming up with a hook in his hand!) You can find a plethora of sites online that have lures for all types of fishing - from bass to spinners to rods and reels.

As for me, I don’t mind the fishing, as long as I don’t have to eat the fish!